Folding structures made of thick hinged sheets
A linkage comprised of at least four links is provided. Each of the links has a polygonal profile with each link having at least two hinged axes that do not intersect one another. Each link is connected to at least two other links by the non-intersecting axes such that the linkage can smoothly transform from an extended surface into a compact bundle. The linkage can be constructed into the form of a foldable chair, a foldable table or a foldable wall.
This application claims priority of provisional patent application No. 60,697,416, filed Jul. 8, 2005.
There are numerous inventions and discoveries relating to methods for folding sheets of material. Some of these methods relate to forming a three dimensional shape from a two dimensional sheet. Other methods take this a step further in that they provide for a folding and unfolding process that is smooth and continuous. One might term this second type “reversible origami”.
A critical inventive component of such methods are various tiling patterns that may be scored into sheets of material. One of the most famous of these patterns is “Miura-Ori” (“ori” being the Japanese term for folding)—named after its inventor Professor Koryo Miura, from Tokyo University. This particular pattern, consisting of a grid of parallelograms, allows for a sheet of material to be compacted down in two dimensions.
Also known in the art are various patterns including those disclosed in my own U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,234,727 and 4,981,732. These disclosures relate to novel shapes that may be developed from a sheet of material, which may then be smoothly folded down to compact bundles.
Such methods have numerous uses for foldable structures and products, including sails, tents, and novel packaging.
In general, these methods require sheets of material whose thickness is very minor when compared to their planar extent. To the degree that the sheet has a thickness of any significance, it is generally required that its material have flexibility and compressibility in order to allow folding to occur.
However, this requirement for flexibility results in significant limitations with regards to the provision of foldable forms requiring a high degree of structural rigidity. Applications that require rigidity include any large-scale structures, as well as products such as foldable furniture, boxes, or foldable dividers.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide foldable forms with a high degree of structural rigidity in which the sheets thereof can have significant thickness.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONGenerally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a method whereby a sheet of material of significant thickness and rigidity may be provided with a network of hinges that allow the assembly to smoothly fold down to a compact bundle, and then instantly open into an extended structurally rigid shape, is provided.
A critical innovation of the disclosed method is in the spatial arrangement of the hinges or “fold-lines”. In the earlier inventions referred to above, all hinges lie within the basic plane of the sheet. As the sheet folds in such inventions, the hinges take on a three-dimensional arrangement, whereby neighboring hinges have intersecting axes.
In the present invention, provision is made for hinges that lie in different planes, whereby their axes do not intersect and thus are offset relative to each other and to the basic plane of the structure. Such offsets allow for a thick sheet of material to fold down into a cubic bundle.
Further disclosed herein are various applications for this folding method, which include folding chairs, tables and self-supporting space dividers.
It will therefore be shown that objects and advantages of the invention will be found in the following description.
Axes 2,10 lies in a common plane with axes 16,22 and therefore these axes intersect each other. Likewise, axes 12,24 and 4,18 intersect each other. However, axes 2,10 and 16,22 do not intersect axes 12,24 nor do they intersect axes 4,18.
In
In
The scope of the invention will now be set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A link assembly comprising:
- four links, each said link having a first linear edge for defining a first axis and a second linear edge for defining a second axis, said edges being disposed adjacent to each other;
- wherein said first and second axes do not intersect one another;
- wherein each link is pivotally connected to two other links with the first edge that defines the first axis of one of said links being foldably hinged to the first edge that defines the first axis of one connected link in order to provide a first fold line running along said first axis and the second edge that defines the second axis of said one of said links being foldably hinged to the second edge that defines the second axis of the other connected link in order to provide a second fold line running along said second axis;
- wherein said first and second fold lines do not intersect one another and are on different planes; and
- wherein said link assembly is transformable from a fully unfolded condition to a fully folded condition.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein each link is constructed from a sheet of material and wherein the first and second axes of each said link lie in different planes that are parallel to the plane of the sheet.
3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the links are in a stacked arrangement when the assembly is in a fully folded condition.
4. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the links define a planar element when the assembly is in a fully unfolded condition.
5. The assembly of claim 1, wherein each said link comprises two hinged polygonal planar portions, said first linear edge defined along one said planar portion and said second linear edge defined along the other said planar portion.
6. The link assembly of claim 1, wherein each said link further includes a third linear edge defining a third axis and a fourth linear edge defining a fourth axis, and wherein the first, second, third and fourth axes do not intersect.
7. The assembly of claim 6, wherein said link comprises three hinged polygonal planar portions, said first linear edge defined along one planar portion, said second linear edge defined along said second planar portion and said third and fourth linear edges defined along said third planar portion.
8. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said first axis of each said link lies in a first common plane and said second axis of each said link lies in a second, different common plane.
9. The assembly of claim 1, wherein each said link is constructed as a three dimensional volume.
10. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said links are joined together in a grid arrangement.
11. The assembly of claim 10, wherein said links are nine in number and are joined together in a three-by-three grid arrangement.
12. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said links are rectangular in shape.
13. The assembly of claim 12, wherein said links are square in shape.
14. The assembly of claim 13, wherein said links define a grid arrangement.
15. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said links are arranged in rows.
16. A folding chair comprised at least in part of the assembly according to claim 1.
17. A folding chair according to claim 16, wherein additional frame elements are attached thereto that fold with said assembly.
18. A folding table comprised at least in part of the assembly according to claim 1.
19. A folding table according to claim 18, wherein additional frame elements are attached thereto that fold with said assembly.
20. The assembly according to claim 1, further including secondary hinge portions such that the link assembly may, after being fully extended, be folded along such secondary hinge portions in order to be self-supporting.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Jul 7, 2006
Date of Patent: Sep 14, 2010
Patent Publication Number: 20070012348
Inventor: Charles Hoberman (New York, NY)
Primary Examiner: David Dunn
Assistant Examiner: Erika Garrett
Attorney: Gottlieb, Rackman & Reisman P.C.
Application Number: 11/483,328
International Classification: A47C 7/00 (20060101);